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Lukashenko defends nuclear weapons in Belarus as guarantee of regional security

MINSK, 23 November (BelTA) – Only the presence of powerful weapons guarantees security in the region. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the statement at a restricted-attendance session of the CSTO Collective Security Council in Minsk on 23 November, BelTA has learned.

Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “We’ve been observing so-called defensive exercises [of NATO countries] for a long time. Since nuclear weapons were withdrawn from Belarus in 1996. What did it produce? The expansion of NATO to the east, the simulation of a scenario featuring a nuclear strike against Belarus in 2016. Mind you, upon the initiative of the so-called Nobel Peace Prize winner Barack Obama.”

According to the scenario of that exercise, Belarus was not even involved in the conflict. “We can talk for a long time about illegal unilateral coercive measures, military provocations at the border, information sabotage, millions of dollars spent on preparations for failed coups. Don’t even get me started on the open demonstration of the readiness to use NATO forces to achieve this goal. Why did B-52 strategic bombers circle near the Belarusian border in August 2020? To whom did they send a signal? Not only to Belarus. It is understandable to whom. Against this backdrop complaints about the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in our country, on our territory are simply absurd,” the president stated. “I repeat for the 100th time that we don’t threaten anyone. We simply learn so-called diplomatic etiquette from those, who have made the language of force a world trend.”

The president stated that nowadays only the presence of powerful weapons guarantees security in the region and gives the right to speak in the international arena.

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